Earthbound translator's book stopped by Nintendo, no ill will held

Marcus Lindblom, the man responsible for translating most of SNES cult classic Earthbound's script to English, has natural insight on why some elements of the North American release are the way they are. After Nintendo rereleased the RPG on the Wii U Virtual Console last year, Lindblom told Polygon he was asked by fans whether he would ever consider putting his knowledge in writing.

Lindblom planned to do just that once he gathered production costs for the book on Kickstarter, but when he tried to clear the project with Nintendo, the developer was not in favor of the idea. While Lindblom was not told exactly why Nintendo did not want the book published, he was reminded that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement during his work on Earthbound.

"I wanted to just write about the fun bits in the game that I think the fans would enjoy," Lindblom told Polygon, stressing there are no hard feelings. "But I have no desire to rock the boat with Nintendo at all ... They gave me my start in the game business."

As interesting as it would be to read the full story of Earthbound's localization, it's tough to feign surprise toward Nintendo being uninterested inthe project. The series' SNES debut did bomb on a commercial level, and its GBA follow-up, Mother 3, is only playable in English thanks to a fan effort. Nintendo doesn't exactly have a reputation for being open about its internal operations, either. Still, with Ness swinging for kneecaps for the entirety of the Super Smash Bros. series and Lucas joining the roster in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, we can't blame Earthbound fans for wanting to learn more about the series.